South African academic: Conflict of interest went unnoticed in obesity stories
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health journalism
In a column for South Africa’s The Media magazine, Harry Dugmore, MTN Chair of Media and Mobile Communication at the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, tries to figure out why it is so difficult to produce good journalism. Yes, he writes, it has something to do with the need for constant devotion to the facts and numbers and science, but that’s true of many beats.
For health, he writes, there are simply deeper forces at work. They relate to the sky-high stakes that come with health care’s status as a multibillion-dollar, life-and-death industry, but run deeper (emphasis mine):
What might be different in health journalism is that there are additional scientific and technical challenges. And, beyond these, there are also all sorts of biases and beliefs (both of journalist and audiences) that have to be unpacked and often confronted. Our existential duel with our own mortality; our views on what makes us ill and what gets us better, are ingrained in cultural practice, power relations, and ideological positioning.
Nothing is uncontested.
To illustrate his point, Dugmore examines a recent set of headlines that mushroomed across the country detailing the nation’s obesity. The stories all reported on a well-known phenomenon and had the ring of truth, but neglected to mention that they were based on the results of a 500-person survey conducted by GlaxoSmithKline to coincide with the new availability of the South African equivalent of Alli as an over-the-counter drug.
What’s scary is that no journalist at all looked at the now freely available weight-loss drug, its purported efficacy, its side effects and real dangers, and the international controversy over its shift from prescription to non-prescription status. Arguably, that is neither GlaxoSmithKline’s nor its public relations company Magna Carta’s fault. They were, after all, just doing their jobs.
For more on the center which employs Dugmore, which he concedes is not without its own conflicts of interest, see our coverage of the work of his colleague, Guy Berger.
Audit: UK’s health IT program falls short of expectations
Filed under: Europe, Health care reform, Health policy
After a damning report from the U.K.’s national audit office indicating that the National Health Service’s massive health IT program has essentially been a black hole which vacuums up far more money than its lack of progress would justify, politicians are now calling for what amounts to the program’s termination.
Physicians support a national system of health records, but there seems to be a consensus that, in the current climate of British austerity, it may be time to amputate the program to stop the bleeding. After all, the audit indicated that despite a seven-year extension, it looks like the program has no chance of meeting its 2014-15 deadlines, or even of producing meaningful results. Here’s Polly Curtis in The Guardian.
The original aim of the £11.4bn NHS IT programme – to install a patient record database accessible from any point in the NHS in England by 2015 – will fail, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned.
The £2.7bn spent so far on the system has not been value for money, the watchdog said, adding it had no confidence that the remaining £4.3bn would be any better spent.
The nine-year-old project – the biggest civilian IT scheme attempted – has been in disarray since it missed its first deadlines in 2007. While its ambitions have been downgraded in recent years, the bill from the suppliers has remained largely unchanged, the report said.
Doctors operated by flashlight, workers scrambled in tornado-ravaged hospital
As you probably know, St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., sustained serious damage in the May 22 tornado that struck that town. Stories about what happened inside the hospital in that 45 seconds and the ensuing moments have started to emerge.
Tornado damage in Joplin, Mo. Photo by KOMUnews via Flickr
An emergency room doctor writes about diving for cover and then treating injured patients with limited supplies and only light from a flashlight he held in his mouth as he worked. Photo galleries on Flickr have images showing the damage inside and outside the hospital, as well as the MASH unit that was set up.
Outpatient Surgery Magazine has the tale of an orthopedic surgeon who was in the middle of surgery when the tornado hit. He and his team finished the surgery with a flashlight and while standing in several inches of water. “The doctor who trained me thought it was important to know how to do surgery the way they used to, with manual instruments,” said Dr. Smith. “That should be a part of everybody’s training.” (Hat tip to @JJacksonJr for pointing this piece out.)
Courtney Hutchison, of the ABC News Medical Unit, looks at tornado preparedness for hospitals, especially the failure of the backup generator. As one expert points out, generators need adequate ventilation, which means they are usually near an exterior wall and vulnerable to tornadoes.
A New York Times story describes the frantic race to move patients before the tornado struck and then the aftermath, which included treating patients in the parking lot and using a bus and the beds of pickup trucks to take patients to other hospitals.
St. Johns’ Med Flight manager was briefly sucked out of the hospital:
Suddenly, the glass doors he was holding onto – the ones with the 100-pound magnet to keep them locked – were pulled open. [Rod] Pace was sucked outside briefly and then pushed back in like a rag doll but held on to the handles.
Engineers have started examining the hospital to decide whether it can be salvaged.
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Blythe Bernhard tells the story of a St. Louis doctor, Brian Froelke, who is chief medical officer for the Missouri disaster medical team. That team, of about 40 health care providers, set up a 30-bed tent to serve as a replacement emergency department. Listen to Froelke discuss his experience treating tornado-related injuries. One doctor who was in the hospital when it was hit compared the scene to Haiti after last year’s earthquake.
Thomas Burton of The Wall Street Journal writes about the chaos that the town’s other hospital experienced. It was thrown into darkness and inundated with patients.
Joy Robertson of KOLR-Springfield, Mo., served as a member of the Federal Disaster Mortuary Response Team for several years and responded to the World Trade Center after 9/11. She explains (about halfway through the story) how the morgue operations work in mass fatality disasters and how victims are identified.
News coverage should reflect that Vermont
has long road ahead to single-payer system
You may have seen a lot of breathless coverage about how Vermont is poised to become the first state to have a single-payer health care system. Don’t get too out of breath.
Vermont did pass legislation, signed by Gov. Peter Shumlin today, laying out a pathway toward – perhaps – getting to a single-payer system in 2017. And by all accounts, Shumlin, who ran on a single-payer platform, truly wants to get there, as do many of his supporters in and out of Vermont government. So this post isn’t meant to be cynical about their intentions or sincerity. It’s just that Vermont’s path toward its single-payer system, Green Mountain Care, is way longer and far more unpredictable path than a lot of the overexcited news coverage suggests.
What questions do you have about health reform and how to cover it?
Joanne Kenen is AHCJ’s health reform topic leader. She is writing blog posts, tip sheets, articles and gathering resources to help our members cover the complex implementation of health reform. If you have questions or suggestions for future resources on the topic, please send them to joanne@healthjournalism.org.
The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press published a 15-step timeline – and even that wasn’t complete despite a lot of contingencies and unknowns and maybes. Among other things, Vermont’s state legislature hasn’t determined how to pay for the single-payer plan (probably it will propose some kind of tax that people and or businesses would pay, but they would no longer have to pay insurance premiums). They aren’t even going to recommend the payment system until January 2013, and then they still have to get it through the legislature in the winter of 2016.
Who knows who will be governor of Vermont, or U.S. president or secretary of HHS by then. Or how businesses in Vermont – IBM is the one that gets mentioned most in the coverage – will respond to a new tax proposal, particularly if they don’t want their employees in the state system (or their employees don’t want to be in the state system) and they have to keep paying the costs of their workers health plan plus a new state tax or surcharge for everybody else’s.
That’s not to mention the doctors. Sure some are for a single-payer system; it’s a progressive state and maybe a lot of the physicians are pro-single-payer. But you can be sure not all of the doctors, hospitals and clinics want to be part of a state-run plan where rates are set and they may have less bargaining power or ways to cost-shift. It’s probably a safe bet that the insurance industry will object to a state plan that largely or completely displaces them, even though Vermont is not exactly the nation’s most gigantic market.
At this stage, Vermont is still at work on setting up its health exchange (and a few states are actually farther along, although not that many). Vermont is a liberal state with a history of health care innovation so it’s no surprise that it is doing an exchange, unlike some more conservative states that are threatening to sit it out and let the federal government do it.
Some officials in Vermont call it the “single exchange” but that’s not the same thing as single-payer. The exchange will have a lot of power to set the rules for health coverage and cost containment in the state, it won’t just be an electronic bulletin board or listings. They are trying to design the state exchange, administratively, in a way that can serve as a foundation, or transition point, to an eventual single-payer plan, as well as some consumer protections so that people know what benefits they are buying – and will get them.
The federal money that will become available in 2014 under federal health reform will go into a payment pot within the new state exchange, and Vermont will try to bring into the exchange the newly insured, small business employees, and people who have been buying insurance on the individual market (some of whom will be getting federal subsidies to get covered in the exchange) .
Vermont also wants to bring in the state’s public employees and, at some point, Medicaid recipients. The Medicaid piece will depend on getting federal waivers. It’s not clear to me how much of that happens in 2014, or which groups are phased in later. In theory they also want to bring Medicare recipients in when they go full single-payer in 2017, but that would require even more waivers and rule-bending. Plus there’s workers comp to deal with in some capacity and ERISA (the federal law which governs multi-state health plans, like that covering an IBM worker and dependents).
So could Vermont have a single payer system by 2017? Yes. Has the state approved a plan how to get there? Sort of. There are lots of gaps in the plan – and the coverage.
Fla. juvenile justice system relies on heavy antipsychotic use
Filed under: Children, Conflicts of interest, Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
In looking into the state Department of Juvenile Justice’s use of powerful prescription antipsychotics, The Palm Beach Post’s Michael LaForgia “analyzed department drug purchasing information and state Medicaid billing data and reviewed thousands of pages of DJJ inspection reports, drug company disclosure records and court documents.” It shows, as he surfaces with some powerful numbers and equally alarming anecdotes (Part 1, Part 2, Infographic).
…in state-run jails and residential programs, antipsychotics were among the top drugs bought for kids - and they routinely were doled out for reasons that never were approved by federal regulators, a Palm Beach Post investigation has found.
A key concern is that the prescriptions may be driven by their improper use as chemical restraints, or by the hefty speaker (and related) fees being paid from pharmaceutical companies to the most prolific prescription writers. Unfortunately, specifics are hard to come by as most homes are run by private contractors and the state doesn’t have the resources for close monitoring. For this story, the reporters were only able to obtain two years worth of data for 25 jails and three programs – a fraction of the statewide total. Those data still paint what LaForgia calls a “startling story.”
A look at the sheer numbers of drugs purchased … suggests a startling story is unfolding in state homes for wayward kids.
In 2007, for example, DJJ bought more than twice as much Seroquel as ibuprofen. Overall, in 24 months, the department bought 326,081 tablets of Seroquel, Abilify, Risperdal and other antipsychotic drugs for use in state-operated jails and homes for children.
That’s enough to hand out 446 pills a day, seven days a week, for two years in a row, to kids in jails and programs that can hold no more than 2,300 boys and girls on a given day.
Medtronic, researchers failed to report known link to complication
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Hot Health Headline, Pharmaceuticals
Medtronic, a medical device maker, and researchers with financial ties to the company have known for years that a “biological agent used in back surgery was linked to sterility in men,” reports John Fauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The doctors, who have received millions in royalties from Medtronic, failed to include the information in journal articles and instead claimed the sterility was caused by surgical technique, not the product. Information linking the product to the complication was included in what the company sent to the FDA as part of the approval process in 2002. But the doctors linked to Medtronic claimed there was “no relationship” as recently as last year.
Several independent doctors contacted by the Journal Sentinel say that while the surgical technique may be a factor in the development of the complication, the Medtronic authors should have stated Infuse also was linked to the condition.
The Journal Sentinel uses Document Cloud to share the documents – journal articles, letters of concern and commentaries – that explain the history of the product, Infuse. The documents are annotated, with key points highlighted and comments explaining the conflicts.
A study done by independent researchers, published today, links Infuse to retrograde ejaculation, a condition that causes sterility in men. Fauber reports the study was prompted in part by the Journal Sentinel’s earlier articles about Medtronic.
“To have such strong evidence that a life-changing complication of sterility exists and then cover it up in my opinion is obscene,” said Charles Rosen, an orthopedic surgeon and president of the Association for Medical Ethics who has read the Stanford study.
Update
Read about the little -known Croatian doctor who pursued concerns about Infuse. Medical journals dismissed his concerns, including one reviewer who told him “as a Croatian he did not have the standing to make comments about Infuse.”
Welcome (and follow) AHCJ’s newest members!
These journalists have joined AHCJ recently:
- Pelin Ogut, student, Anadolu University; Eskisehir, Turkey
- Veronique LaCapra, science & technology reporter, KWMU-St. Louis (@KWMUscience)
- Rachel Boehm, student, American University; Washington, D.C. (@rachelboehm)
- Becky Lang, health/science/environmental editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Milwaukee (@langb)
- Janice Lloyd, reporter/blogger, USA Today; McLean, Va. (@janicenlloyd)
- Jennifer Gordon, health reporter, St. Joseph News-Press; St. Joseph, Mo.
- Linda Marsa, contributing editor, Discover; Los Angeles
- Robin Donovan, writer, Cincinnati (@RobinKD)
- Brittany Davis, reporter, Health News Florida; Hollywood, Fla.
- Brittany Hart, reporter, Dayton Business Journal; Dayton, Ohio (@ReporterHart)
- Stephen Smith, reporter, Boston Globe; Boston
- Nancy Monson, writer/editor, Shelton, Conn.
- David Whelan, staff writer, Forbes Magazine; Philadelphia (@WhelanHealth)
- Gergana Koleva, reporter, WalletPop; Jackson Heights, N.Y. (@gerganakoleva)
- William Looney, editor in chief, Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine / Advanstar; New York
- Megan Scudellari, reporter, Durham, N.C. (@Scudellari)
- Rita Rubin, medical reporter, USA Today; Bethesda, Md. (@ritarubin)
- Carrie Gann, student, University of North Carolina; Chapel Hill, N.C. (@carrie_gann)
- Harry Dugmore, director: Discovery Centre for Health Journalism, Rhodes University; Grahamstown, South Africa
- Alana Kornfeld, senior editor, Huffington Post; New York (@alanaekornfeld)
- Samuel Hornblower, associate producer, 60 Minutes; New York (@SamHornblower)
- Jessika Boedeker, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga. (@JessikaBoedeker)
- Amy Karon, student, University of Wisconsin; Madison, Wis. (@amykaron)
- Chelsea Toledo, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga. (@BiancaMocha)
- Denise Peterson, editorial director, Elsevier Business Intelligence; Washington, D.C. (@PinkSheetDenise)
- Audrey Dutton, reporter, Idaho Statesman; Boise, Idaho (@audreydutton)
- Jeanne Pinder, founder, ClearHealthCosts.com; Pelham, N.Y.
- Alexander Friedman, independent journalist, independent journalist; Philadelphia
- Marcie McClellan, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga.
- Alison Knezevich, reporter, The Charleston Gazette; Charleston, W.V. (@aliknez)
- Peter Loftus, reporter, Dow Jones NewsWires; Philadelphia (@loftus)
- J. Daniel Flaysakier, senior medical editor, Fance 2 TV; Paris (@jdflaysakier)
- Joy Chavez Mapaye, assistant professor, University of Alaska; Anchorage, Alaska
- Michael Bassett, writer/editor, Holliston, Mass.
- Richard Besser, chief health & medical editor, ABC News; New York (@drrichardbesser)
- Connie Mitchell, writer, Lee’s Summit, Mo.
- Robyn Abree, writer, Roswell, Ga.
- Yanli Liu, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga.
- Cynthia Ramnarace, writer, Rockaway Beach, N.Y. (@cramnarace)
- Raymond Carter, senior editor/editor, Accountable Care News, Medical Home News; Rancho Cordova, Calif.
- Erin McCoy, student, University of North Carolina-Greensboro; Rocky Mount, N.C.
- Sherri Tenpenny, writer, Middleburg Heights, Ohio (@BusyDrT)
- Arian Smedley, reporter, Athens, Ohio (@arianceleste)
- Lauren Stone, student, John’s Hopkins School of Public Health; Baltimore, Md.
- Sy Kraft, staff writer, Medical News Today; Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Lauren Whaley, multimedia reporter, Center for Health Reporting; Alhambra, Calif.
- Janet Moore, medical technology reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune; Minneapolis
- Patrick Skerrett, editor, Harvard Health Publications; Boston
- Bara Vaida, contributing writer, Kaiser Health News; Washington, D.C. (@barav)
- Felicia Harris, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga. (@felicialynne)
- Lexie Verdon, writer, Kaiser Health News; Arlington, Va.
- Molly Battistelli, project director, University of California, San Francisco; Santa Monica, Calif.
- Chelsy Willis, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga. (@ccw85)
- Hannah Wolfson, reporter, The Birmingham News; Birmingham, Ala.
- Kathleen Doheny, independent journalist, Burbank, Calif.
- Angela Townsend, health reporter, Cleveland Plain Dealer; Cleveland
- Constance Alexander, freelancer writer/columnist, Murray Ledger & Times; Murray, Ky.
- Coshandra Dillard, reporter, Tyler Morning Telegraph; Tyler, Texas (@cvdillard)
- Larry Dreiling, reporter, High Plains Journal; Hays, Kan. (@ldreiling)
- Michelle Rupe Eubanks, reporter, TimesDaily; Florence, Ala.
- Chris Fleisher, reporter, Valley News; White River Junction, Vt.
- Sheila Hagar, reporter, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin; Walla Walla, Wash. (@nbsheilahagar)
- Maunete Loeks, reporter, Star-Herald; Scottsbluff, Neb. (@mloeks76)
- Matthew Mikus, reporter, St. Ignace News; St. Ignace, Mich. (@mikusmatt)
- Shannon Muchmore, reporter, Tulsa World; Tulsa, Okla. (@smuchmore)
- Molly Newman, reporter, Marshfield News-Herald; Marshfield, Wis.
- Loretta Sword, reporter, The Pueblo Chieftain; Pueblo, Colo.
- Stacy Temple, reporter, The News-Star; Monroe, La.
- Edward Stannard, reporter, New Haven Register; New Haven, Conn.
- Ciara O’Rourke, reporter, Austin American-Statesman; Austin, Texas (@ciaraorourke)
- Sean Carr, reporter, BestWeek Insurance News; Washington, D.C.
- Amanda Cuda Swavy, reporter, Connecticut Post; Bridgeport, Conn. (@amandacuda)
- Amani Ghouleh, editor/publisher, Arab Horizon Newspaper; Oak Lawn, Ill.
- DeSaundra Harris-Sullivan, reporter, American Urban Radio Networks; Pittsburgh
- Tracey Zhu, reporter, The Epoch Times; Bethany, Conn.
- Linda Jue, executive editor, G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism; San Francisco
- Jamila Bey, independent journalist, Washington, D.C. (@jbey)
- Tressa Kirby, student, Georgetown University; Washington, D.C. (@tressairis)
- Nicole Egan, writer, People Magazine; Royersford, Pa.
- Hoag Levins, managing editor, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics; Philadelphia (@HoagLevins)
- Charles Fiegl, Washington reporter, American Medical News; Washington, D.C. (@CFiegl)
- Chris Rizo, health care policy reporter, BNA; Sacramento, Calif.
- Tara Grimes, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo. (@taraeg)
- Jennifer Meckles, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo. (@jenmeckles)
- Laine Mullen, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo.
- Laura Putre, writer, Lakewood, Ohio (@lauraputre)
- Jennifer Ringler, associate editor, Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine; Woodridge, N.J. (@JenniferRingler)
- Yvonne Lee, senior editor, CR Magazine; Philadelphia
- Pieter Droppert, medical science writer, Biotech Strategy Blog; Hoboken, N.J. (@3NT)
- Emily Paulsen, writer, Kensington, Pa. (@eapwriter)
- Kathy Warwick, writer, Madison, Wis.
- Karen Blum, writer, Owings Mills, Md.
- Angie Drobnic Holan, reporter, St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg, Fla. (@angieholan)
- Sabrina Siddiqui, writer, Reston, Va. (@SabrinaSiddiqui)
- Sally Church, science writer, Pharma Strategy Blog; Jersey City, N.J. (@MaverickNY)
- Eric Porterfield, dir. global health communications, United Nations Foundation; Washington, D.C. (@ericporterfield)
- Melissa Burden, reporter, The Detroit News; Detroit
- David Woods, chief executive officer, HMI Publishing; Philadelphia
- Owen Covington, reporter, Triad Business Journal; Greensboro, N.C. (@TBJOwen)
- Katie Bunker, senior health writer, Dell; Centreville, Va. (@bunkdc)
- Pesha Rubinstein, assistant editor, Alliance for Continuing Education; Teaneck, N.J.
- Lynn La, student, Columbia University; New York
- Pamela Schaeffer, editor, Health Progress; St. Louis
- Lena Lidberg, reporter, Stockholm
- Mark Abdelmalek, producer/contributor, ABC News; Philadelphia (@markmalek)
- Rose Tibayan, student; New York (@rosetibayan)
- David Gorn, reporter, California Healthline; Sacramento, Calif.
- Michael Fitzhugh, independent journalist, Berkeley, Calif. (@mfitz)
- Abraham Aboraya, staff writer, Orlando Business Journal; Orlando, Fla.
- Judy Stone, writer, Cumberland, Md. (@DRJudyStone)
- Dorene Robinson, writer, Bellevue, Wash. (@BeyondDiets)
- Jackie Crosby, reporter, Star Tribune; Minneapolis, Minn. (@JackieCrosby)
- Tatiana Sanchez, intern, Kaiser Media Fellow; New York (@TatianaYSanchez)
- Olga Pierce, reporter, ProPublica; New York (@olgapierce)
- Linda Thrasybule, intern, Kaiser Media Fellow; New York (@lthrasy)
- Delia Hernandez, reporter, KUPN-TV Univision, Fisher Corporation; Portland, Ore.
- Julie Sullivan, staff writer, The Oregonian; Portland, Ore. (@JulieSullivanOR)
- Elizabeth Dwoskin, staff writer, The Village Voice; Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Katherine Gibas, reporter, YNN-Time Warner Cable; Syracuse, N.Y.
- Katti Gray, independent journalist, Brooklyn, N.Y. (@KattiGray)
- Jane Lerner, staff writer, The Journal News; New City, N.Y.
- Patti Singer, health reporter, Democrat and Chronicle; Rochester, N.Y. (@itsabouthealth)
- Amber Smith, staff writer, The (Syracuse) Post Standard; Syracuse, N.Y. (@ambersith)
- James Mulder, senior business writer, The Post Standard; Syracuse, N.Y.
- Rebecca Trevett, writer, Watertown Daily Times; Watertown, N.Y. (@REBTREV)
- Chet Cooper, founder/publisher, Ability Magazine; Huntington Beach, Calif.
- Heather Loeb, health editor, About.com; Chicago (@hloeb)
- Taren Grom, editor, PharmaLinx LLC; Philadelphia, Pa.
- Kate Lowenstein, health editor, About.com; New York (@k8lo)
- Brian McVicar, reporter, The Muskegon Chronicle; Fruitport, Mich.
- Amy Brittain, reporter, The Star-Ledger; Newark, N.J. (@amystarledger)
- Susan London, independent journalist, Seattle
- Carole Carson, independent journalist, Nevada City, Calif. (@CaroleCarson)
- Rose Tibayan; New York (@rosetibayan)
- Amelia Beltramini, caporedattore, Focus Gruener un Jahr/Mondadori; Milano, Italy
- Shereen Jegtvig, independent journalist, Prescott, WI (@sjegtvig)
- Luana Ritch, bureau chief, UNLV/School of Public Health; Carson City, Nev.
- Nicholas Butler, project director/health literacy, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo.
- Denise Early, blogger, Tucsoncitizen.com; Tucson, Arizona
- Anne Boyd, independent journalist, Austin, Texas
- Saerom Yoo, reporter, Statesman Journal; Salem, Ore. (@syoo)
- Catherine Wise, reporter/producer, PBS NewsHour; San Francisco
- Valerie Newitt, managing editor, ADVANCE; King of Prussia, Pa.
- Misty Williams, health care reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Atlanta
- Jessica Bylander, FDA editor, The Gray Sheet; Rockville, Md.
- Frank Strona, student, San Jose State University; San Francisco (@HealthCommTech)
- Amy Sacks, student, Hunter College, School of Public Health; New York (@amysacksnyc)
- Amy Harmon, national correspondent, The New York Times; New York (@amyharmon)
- Katherine Nocera, reporter, Politico; Washington, D.C.
- Devi Nampiaparampil, independent journalist, New York
- Alia Wong, student, Boston University; Honolulu, Hawaii
- Reyna Jones, independent journalist, Atlanta, Ga.
- Jeff Truesdell, staff writer, People Magazine; St. Louis (@jhtruesdell)
- Karen Sampson Hoffman, health information specialist, National Resource Center on AD/HD; Hanover, Md.
- Amy Bild, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo.
- Linda Rath, independent journalist, Sedona, Ariz.
- Michele Berman, managing partner, Celebrity Diagnosis LLC; Chestnut Hill, Mass.
- Patrick Carone, independent journalist, Indiana, Pa. (@PatCarone)
- Sandra Gordon, independent journalist, Weston, Conn. (@sgordonwriter)
- Alisa Hughley, managing editor, enBloom Media, LLC; Washington, D.C.
- Mallika Marshall, doctor, New England Cable News; Wellesley, Mass.
- David Sell, reporter, The Philadelphia Inquirer; Philadelphia (@DavidCSell)
- Michelle Sipics, content developer / science writer, historyofvaccines.org; Philadelphia (@michellesipics)
- Rabiya Tuma, independent journalist, independent journalist; Emeryville, CA (@rabiyatuma)
If you haven’t joined yet, see what member benefits you’re missing out on: Access to more than 50 journals and databases, special data sets, tip sheets and articles from your colleagues on how they’ve reported stories, conferences, workshops, online training, reporting guides and more. Join AHCJ today to get a wealth of support and tools to help you.
CBC, grad students cover palliative care and death in Canada
Filed under: Health policy, Hospitals, Hot Health Headline
The CBC’s new series on dying has a unique provenance: The stories are the work of 16 graduate students at The University of Western Ontario, as well as that of CBC health reporters, and are the final product of a unique journalism course focused on reporting on death and dying. 
The collaboration seems to have started with a definition of its title, “A Good Death.” In this case, it means one that is “peaceful, loving and comfortable.” Access to such an end, the journalists found, varied widely depending on economic, geographic and cultural circumstances.
The introduction to the package has wonderful descriptions of all the stories that went into it but they don’t link to the pieces. I’ve taken the liberty of adding relevant links, then copying and pasting that section below.
- Reporters Adela Talbot and Sean Leathong discover that children are among the most underserved in end-of-life care. The health care system is not organized to provide for their needs. Talbot and Leathong interview physicians in the relatively new field of pediatric palliative care and who focus on helping parents and children let go.
- Nicole Case explores why doctors have such a hard time discussing dying with their terminal patients, and how that discomfort can cause further stress and harm for patients and their families.
- Jared Lindzon looks at access to palliative care across the country and its dependence on private donations.
- Bethany Cairns and Mariam Ahmad report on why while most Canadians want to die at home, but few actually do.
- Alex Ballingall spends time with the health care workers specializing in palliative care to see how they cope with the intense emotions of their job.
- Music therapist, Jill Kennedy-Tufts, who records the thoughts, songs and prayers of the dying to leave as final gifts to loved ones, is profiled by Angela Richardson.
- The physiological and psychological relationship between love and death is described by Lauren Pelley.
- Chinese Canadian conceptions of a good death are examined by Fan-Yee Suen.
- Alineh Haidery explains end-of life customs for Muslim Canadians.
- Legal debates about pulling the plug and who gets to decide are examined by Brian Moskowitz.
- Heather Young discovers a variety of definitions of dying and explains why these definitions can make a difference in access to palliative care.
- Edward von Aderkas looks back and provides a fascinating snapshot of how dying has changed in Canada over the past century.
- And Trevor Melanson and Stefanie Masotti bring us up-to-date with an examination of the way social media is influencing how we die today.
Veteran journalists speak from front lines of prescription drug epidemic
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline, Member news, Pharmaceuticals, Public health
In a subject area increasingly defined by its steady drumbeat of alarming numbers and increasingly dire statistics, the opening to a recent episode of WBUR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook still manages to make even the most jaded readers sit up and take notice.
Prescription drug abuse is sky-rocketing in the United States as accidental overdose deaths now exceed crack deaths in the 1980s. Overdose from prescription painkillers like Oxycontin and Xanax is now the leading cause of accidental death in 17 states.
The show touches upon every point of the prescription drug epidemic, from the pill mills of Florida to the devastated counties of rural Appalachia, where entire generations have been lost. The show is driven by the expertise of guests like Louisville Courier Journal reporter Laura Ungar and The Charleston Gazette’s Alison Knezevich, both of whom will be speaking at the June 3 lunch session of AHCJ’s upcoming Rural Health Journalism Workshop in St. Louis. The thoughts of these veteran journalists are also supplemented by a unique interactive element, thanks to On Point’s national reach and call-in format. One example:
On Point caller Michelle in Carter County, Ky., grew up with her mother addicted to prescription medications.
“We would wake up in middle night and have to put her to bed because she was like a zombie,” Michelle said. “It was like no one was there.” Michelle is now going to school to be a drug abuse therapist.
A summary of the show is available online, as is an MP3 of the entire broadcast.
Emails show Texas council’s disregard for EPA regs
Filed under: Government, Health journalism, Public health, Public records
Thanks to an order from the Texas Attorney General, Mark Greenblatt, of KHOU-Houston, obtained emails (2-page PDF) which demonstrate the state water advisory council’s conscious effort to effectively defy certain EPA water quality regulations related to radionucleotide content.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality accomplished this trick by subtracting the counting error from otherwise dangerous test results, thus successfully dropping them below necessary thresholds. With the numbers below the threshold, there was no formal violation and authorities could get away with not warning residents about their potentially harmful water supply. The dodge continued until 2008, when it was caught by federal auditors.
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Awards for Excellence in Health Care JournalismDeadline: Feb. 3
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- Investigate health professionals and the boards that regulate them
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